::"his listeners only would have understood "slanderer"" His listeners (or more accurately readers) were Christians, so they would have already understood that the Devil is the source of all evil. When you add to that the meaning of the word as "divert from a course of action"/"filled with suspicion against another"/"one who throws things", they would have understood it to mean chaos. - [[User:Markman|Markman]] 09:53, 3 March 2013 (EST)

::"his listeners only would have understood "slanderer"" His listeners (or more accurately readers) were Christians, so they would have already understood that the Devil is the source of all evil. When you add to that the meaning of the word as "divert from a course of action"/"filled with suspicion against another"/"one who throws things", they would have understood it to mean chaos. - [[User:Markman|Markman]] 09:53, 3 March 2013 (EST)

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:::No. The Jews did not have the same concept of Satan as Christ reveals. Most readers were Jews or Christians in a much more Jewish church than we know now. Given that the purpose of the gospels and letters is to teach and exhort, it is hard to say that all readers would have understood that the devil is the source of all evil. Anyway, as I already mentioned Mr. Schlafly, there is no indication from any use of diabolos in the entire new testament that any author ever used diabolos to refer to chaos or any concept like chaos. It means "slanderer". That's it. [[User:NKeaton|Nate]] 10:30, 3 March 2013 (EST)

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False etymology

διαβάλλω is contracted from διά and βάλλω and it means "to throw or carry over or across", but it is literally used to describe a move in wrestling or "to pass over, cross". So generally it is used to describe the throw of a single item, e.g. your opponent when wrestling or yourself (used reflexively as "to cross") - that's not how one creates chaos! Figuratively, it means "to attack a man's character, calumniate", "to speak or state slanderously", "deceive by false accounts", etc. To stress my: διαβάλλω does not mean to create chaos, it has nothing to do with disorder. διάβόλος is a slanderer, διάβόλος doesn't mean creator of chaos. There is no evidence that it is even used literally in the sense of someone passing, etc. (See Liddell-Scott]) --AugustO 09:04, 3 March 2013 (EST)

According to this, the word can also mean "divert from a course of action" and according to your website it could also mean "filled with suspicion against another" i.e creating discord, or chaos in other words. Therefore the interpretation of the word as chaos is valid. - Markman 09:21, 3 March 2013 (EST)

That is very weak indeed! Chaos implies discord, but filling with suspicion doesn't necessarily imply chaos. There is no source which ever has translated διάβόλος as "one who creates chaos" or even "one who throws things around" in the sense of creating the chaos. That's a mixture of clutching straws and wishful thinking, mixed with folk-etymology - it isn't used in that sense.

Indeed, διάβόλος is even one step removed from διαβάλλω - it is generally only used as "slanderer".

When you take into account Satan's rule over the earth, causing division cannot means anything other than chaos. - Markman 09:33, 3 March 2013 (EST)

That's not translating - that' just playing a game of word associations. I hope that you are more diligent when tranlating the Hebrew text.

Yes, Satan creates chaos. But your reasoning is circular:

Satan obviously creates chaos and Devil means Satan therefore Devil means creator of chaos. So, now Devil means creator of chaos, therefore the Bible talked about chaos when it spoke of Satan as the devil, proving that Satan creates chaos.

The meaning of διάβόλος is slanderer. You won't find any Greek source where it is understood in another meaning. So even if Luke started to use a new meaning for this word (as a kind of Biblical Humpty-Dumpty), his listeners only would have understood "slanderer".

"his listeners only would have understood "slanderer"" His listeners (or more accurately readers) were Christians, so they would have already understood that the Devil is the source of all evil. When you add to that the meaning of the word as "divert from a course of action"/"filled with suspicion against another"/"one who throws things", they would have understood it to mean chaos. - Markman 09:53, 3 March 2013 (EST)

No. The Jews did not have the same concept of Satan as Christ reveals. Most readers were Jews or Christians in a much more Jewish church than we know now. Given that the purpose of the gospels and letters is to teach and exhort, it is hard to say that all readers would have understood that the devil is the source of all evil. Anyway, as I already mentioned Mr. Schlafly, there is no indication from any use of diabolos in the entire new testament that any author ever used diabolos to refer to chaos or any concept like chaos. It means "slanderer". That's it. Nate 10:30, 3 March 2013 (EST)